


Blackmail

by tryceratops



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-26 19:59:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5018374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tryceratops/pseuds/tryceratops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy goes head-to-head with the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, all for the sake of a sandwich.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blackmail

**Author's Note:**

> IDK where this came from but it needed to happen tbh.

“Son of a _bitch_.” Darcy pulled the hood of her sweater up as the clouds broke and it began to piss rain. Just her fucking luck, really. She was on her way from work over at Stark Tower up to Hell’s Kitchen for dinner.

Really, when it came down to it, New York wasn’t really all that different from London, as she’d realized upon returning from her soiree there. Rainy, full of rude people, crowded, everyone in a hurry, and alien invasions. Ah yes, the two cities were practically the same.

Except at least in New York they knew what the fuck bacon was. Because whatever people might say, the Brits had bacon _all wrong_.

So really, the biggest adjustment she’d had to make coming to New York from London was the time difference. Aside from that, everything was peachy.

Now, some may say that Hell’s Kitchen was a bit out of the way just for a bite to eat, to which she would quickly reply that whoever said that had clearly never eaten at Joe’s diner before. Because if they had eaten at Joe’s before, they wouldn’t even think to question why she would go so far out of her way for a BLT and fries. In short: Joe’s was the best fucking restaurant in NYC. No, it wasn’t Michelin starred or anything, but who gave a fuck about that Gordon Ramsay shit? Darcy knew her food, and she knew Joe’s made the best damn diner grub in the city.

She’d discovered it one afternoon when her gopher activities had sent her up to HK to meet with some creepy old guy who had some paperwork Tony needed and had stopped for a bite on her way home. And ever since, one night a week she would put up with the commute just for a taste of Joe’s.

And so that was how Darcy found herself, halfway between the subway station and Joe’s, caught in the rain and cursing Thor under her breath as she went. By the time she pushed into Joe’s, causing the bells hanging against the top of the door to ring, she was soaked to the bone and freezing.

“Hey, John.” She called out as she slid into her usual booth. Despite Joe’s deliciousness, it was never all that busy in there. Also, she felt it was important to note that, as far as she could tell, no one named Joe had ever worked there. No clue where the name had come from, but she didn’t want to ask. It added an air of mystery to the place, she figured.

John didn’t even bother bringing her a menu, he knew her order well enough by this point. “No milkshake today, bud!” she called out as she peeled her soaked jacket off and draped it over the back of the seat, “But a coffee would be fantastic.” She added. Way too cold for a milkshake.

As usual, she ate her meal in peace, downing three cups of coffee in the time it took her to consume her BLT and fries. By the time she’d finished, she was a bit warmer and her clothes were marginally dryer, and thank god, the rain had stopped. She pulled her soaked hoodie back on, paid and left her usual tip, gave John a wave good bye, and stepped back out into the street. She pulled her hood back up and shoved her fists into her pockets in a pathetic attempt to keep warm as she hurried back to the subway station.

She was only about a block from the subway station when the hairs on the back of her neck began to stand on end. Someone was following her closely, she was sure. She glanced behind her and saw a man in a hoodie, with the hood pulled up, walking right for her, the glint of a knife clear in one of his hands. He was only about ten feet behind her, almost near enough to touch.

He caught her eye and scowled, picking up his pace.

“Fuck me.” She muttered as she took a couple steps away, torn between running and grabbing her tazer. Both sounded like a pretty damn good idea to her, so she took off as fast as she could, one hand holding her purse steady and the other digging through her purse for her tazer. It had its own little pocket and everything, but getting it out while running wasn’t exactly easy. She finally got a good grip on it just steps from the entrance to the subway and turned, pointing it in the direction she was sure the man was in, only to find there was no one behind her at all. The street was empty as far as she could see.

“What the—“

She took a couple steps back the way she’d come, sure she hadn’t hallucinated the guy with the knife following her. Had he taken off down a back alley once she’d run?

“Hello?” She called out. Yeah, smart move, Darcy, she chastised herself, call out to the creepy murderer dude. She continued walking away from the safe, warm, dry subway station into the dark of the night. Because she was just smart like that.

“Is anyone out there? Creepy murderer dude?” There was a thud down an alley to her right and she turned quickly, her breath catching. She couldn’t see a thing, there were no lights down the alley. Great. She had a flashlight app on her phone but she couldn’t get her phone out and hold her tazer at the same time. “Hello?” She called out at the mouth of the alley. There was another thud and some scuffling noises. “I really hope you’re just one giant fucking rat.” She muttered as she stepped back, ready to give up and go back to the subway station.

Then all of a sudden there was a clamour in the alley and the dude in the hoodie came sprinting out, clutching a bleeding nose in one hand, no knife in sight. Darcy sidestepped to narrowly miss being hit by him in his hurry to get away. She watched him run back the way he’d come, glancing over his shoulder as he went.

“Well what the---FUCK!” She turned back to look into the alley only to see a dude standing less than five feet away from her in a mother fucking mask that covered the top half of his face (and were those… devil horns on his forehead?) and before she could think, she pulled the trigger on her tazer. The wires shot out and connected with the fabric of his suit, and before she could blink, Daredevil was on his back in front of her. She stared for a good long while before what she’d done finally hit her.

“Holy shit.” She darted forward, dropping her tazer and gently placing her to-go box on the ground next to him before kneeling down beside him (right in a puddle, she realized too late), pulling the wires from his suit. “Are you okay?”

All she got in response was a groan.

“In my defense, you freaked me right the fuck out.”

Another groan.

“You’re not going to die, are you?”

He muttered something, which she figured was an improvement from a groan.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

He muttered something else that she still couldn’t quite understand.

“Dude you need to learn to enunciate or something, because I have no idea what the hell you’re trying to say.”

“Got away.”

“What, the douchecanoe with the knife? Whatever you did probably scared him half to death anyways. I wouldn’t worry about him.”

He mumbled something else and she sighed and rolled her eyes. “No idea what you’re saying, bro.”

“He was going to attack you.”

“Why the hell do you think I was running away? Do I look like the kind of person who runs for the fun of it?”

He laughed a bit at that, which she took as a good sign. As a Professional Superhero Herder she figured it was practically her job to be able to make guys like him laugh.

“Why… chasing you?” He groaned and tried to sit up. She put a hand on his back to give him support (yeah right, Darcy, with abs like that do you _really_ think he needs support?)

“Why what?” She asked.

“Why was he chasing you?”

“How the hell should I know? He’s a New Yorker with a knife he probably gets his rocks off on scaring the shit out of pretty young girls.”

He laughed again. “He was waiting for you outside the restaurant.”

“He wa—wait a second were you _watching me?_ ”

“I was watching him. He seemed pretty intent on getting you specifically.”

“Well, thanks. For… doing whatever it was you did to him. And… I’d apologize for tazing you too, but I’m so not sorry. You can’t just sneak up on a girl like that. And now I’m two for two.” She couldn’t help the grin that crawled onto her face.

 “Two for two?”

“Of superheroes I’ve tazed successfully. I’ve tried it twice and haven’t missed once.” She tried to toss her hair over her shoulder, but it only managed to send a large lock of wet hair into her face. She peeled it away and sighed. “And someday I will totally taze Tony Stark too, you mark my words. One of these days he’s going to leer a little too much and then BAM, I’ll get him.”

“You… know Tony Stark?”

“We’re besties for the resties.” She shrugged. “I work for him. Well, I work for someone who works for him. Kind of. It’s complicated. But he’s totally stared at my tits, so yeah, I know him.”

Daredevil was now trying to push himself up to standing, and she stood as well, picking up her box as she stood.  “I should go.”

“Go be the hero this city needs?” She asked in her best Christian Bale Batman voice.

“Something like that.”

He turned to walk away down the alley.

“Hey!” She called out and he paused. “Next time, don’t sneak up on a girl. Because I’ll totally taze you again if I have the chance. I’m just saying.”

He laughed and kept walking, disappearing into the darkness of the alleyway.

Darcy waited until he was out of sight before she collected her tazer and walked down to the subway station.

* * *

Three weeks after she’d run into Daredevil the first time, Darcy was back in Hell’s Kitchen for a bite to eat at Joe’s. The past few weeks had kept her too busy to actually make it up to HK for dinner (thanks a lot, Jane), and she had missed it.

 She sat in a booth with her empty plate and glass from a BLT, fries, and a large strawberry milkshake, scrolling through Facebook on her phone. It had been another long day at work and she was brain dead and ready to go home and crash.

She flagged down Jim for the bill and left a ten and a couple singles on the table for a tip. She stood and shouldered her purse, pulling out her tazer and placing her finger on the trigger before she exited the restaurant.

Can’t be too careful with crazies around Hell’s Kitchen, she figured. She walked with quite a confident swagger towards the subway station. She’d read somewhere that people who walked with confidence were less likely to be mugged, so she had adopted that as yet another defense tactic. No clue if it was true or not, but it kind of made sense in her mind.

She was halfway to the subway station when something behind her made her stop. She twisted around as quickly as possible and aimed her tazer right at what would be chest level of anyone standing behind her.

No one was there though.

She looked around and sighed at her overactive imagination before turning back to go to the subway, only to run face first into red-suited Daredevil chest.

“Jesus Christ on a fucking pogo stick!” She screamed and started to raise her tazer. Before she had it more than halfway up he knocked it out of her hand. “Ow, fuck!” She cried out as the back of his hand impacted with her wrist. She clutched her wrist and looked up at him and then tried to shove him back with her hands on his chest. He was like a brick fucking wall though. “Dickhead. What the fuck was that for?”

He just gave her a small smirk.

“Not a safe place for a young woman to be out by herself.”

“Not when masked assholes steal her tazer it’s not.”

“If I was able to disable you that easily so could someone who meant harm.”

“I did just fine against you last time.”

His smirk grew. “I don’t make the same mistake twice.”

She rolled her eyes and turned to pick up her tazer, but he caught her wrist. She tried to jerk it away and turned to glare at him.

“What the fuck do you want? Or do you get off on scaring the shit out of me?”

“Just keeping an eye on you.”

She laughed. “There’s no way in hell,” (she bit back a laugh at the pun. Devil, hell, get it?) “that you have time to keep an eye on every girl you save.”

“Then let’s say I was in the neighbourhood.”

“This is the only neighbourhood you’re ever in, as far as I can tell. Why did you come out of the shadows, Mister Wayne?”

“You go to Joe’s a lot?”

“So what if I do?”

“You know it’s a front?”

“Half the businesses in this city are fronts. What’s he doing?”

“Laundering money.”

“So the mob makes fantastic sandwiches. Big deal”

“I’m going to take them down.”

“Like fucking hell you are!”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Joe’s is a pillar of the community. Just because they lie about a few transactions or whatever doesn’t mean they’re hurting anyone. You don’t seem to me like the kind of guy who would go out of his way to tear down a delicious establishment just because of some money laundering.”

He remained silent, the creepy non-existent eyeholes staring at her. Darcy groaned.

“You want me to ask where they’re getting the money.”

He smirked.

“Fine. Where are they getting the money?”

“Gambling.”

“See! Jesus, I thought you were going to say they were involved in human trafficking or something awful like that. Gambling doesn’t hurt anyone.”

“It’s hurting my city.”

“Oh my god, Batman.” She put her hand to her face, “Why are you telling me all this, anyways?”

“So you’re warned. Joe’s may not be here much longer.”

“Fuck you.”

He shrugged and turned back down the alley. She watched him go and as soon as he was out of sight, she grabbed her tazer and ran into the alley. It was a dead end, no fire escapes leading up to the roof, but somehow he was nowhere to be seen.

“What the fuck.” She breathed out.

* * *

It was another three months before Darcy saw Daredevil again. She’d continued her weekly tradition of eating at Joe’s and was pleased to note that it was still running, however illicit it may be.

She was on her way back to the subway station from Joe’s, full of delicious sandwich and completely satisfied. She twirled her tazer around in her fingers and strolled down the street towards the subway station, humming softly to herself. It was Friday and she had a date with Netflix and her Captain America snuggie.

She paused when she was halfway between the restaurant and the subway station, right at the intersection she’d met Daredevil in two times previously. In the past few months the concern that Joe’s may disappear hadn’t evaporated from her mind, and she’d developed a bit of a plan.

“Hey, loser.” She called out into the dark, and then waited for a response. “Oh, come on, stalker, I know you’re out there!”

The silence stretched on, but she was determined. She wandered down the dark alley a way, tazer clutched tightly in her fingers. “What, you done stalking me now? Won’t even come out to say hi?”

There was a shuffling noise behind her and she jerked around, coming, once again, face to face with the Daredevil’s chest. She looked up a bit, towards his eyes. Or where his eyes would be if they weren’t covered by a fucking mask.

“Jesus, you’re creepy.”

“You called?”

“Yeah, you don’t have a bat signal so I kind of had to make do.” She took a step back so she wasn’t nose-to-tits with him. “You really are a stalker.”

“Not exactly.”

“What, you weren’t following me from the diner?”

“No.”

“Fighting some bad guys a couple blocks away?”

“Warmer.”

“In your lover’s warm embrace?” She grinned.

He shook his head. “Not even close.”

“Single?”

“What do you want, Darcy?”

“Ooh, he knows my name!”

He grunted in response.

“I have a proposal for you.”

His face was stoic, though she liked to imagine that he raised a brow under his mask or something.

“I notice Joe’s is still standing, and I’d really like to keep it that way. You have the ability to do something I don’t want you to do, but I think I also have the ability to do something you don’t want me to do. So I propose a trade.”

Again, no response.

She sighed, “You’ve got to give me something, bro.”

Still nothing. She resisted the urge to knock on his helmet, see if anyone was home.

“Right, so, as long as Joe’s keeps their illicit activities to things that don’t hurt anyone, you leave them alone. In return, I keep the Avengers off your scent.”

“The Avengers are looking for me?”

“Not yet.” She grinned, “And I can keep it that way. They listen to me, value my opinion. Me and cap? Total bros. So I discourage them from looking into you or Hell’s Kitchen, and you leave my diner alone.”

“Are you… blackmailing me?” He asked after a long pause.

“I prefer to think of it as… something else.”

“If I go after Joe’s the Avengers come after me.”

She shrugged. “I guess so, yeah.”

“That’s a threat.”

“Agreement?” She grinned, suddenly not so comfortable with her plan.

The eyehole-less mask stared down at her and she resisted the urge to take a step back. Stand your ground, Miss Lewis!

“As long as no one gets hurt with their actions.”

Darcy fistpumped. “Dude, believe me, you want me as a friend. This is the best idea you’ve ever had.”

“But there’s a flip side.” He stopped her.

“Uh oh.”

“If the Avengers come looking for me, if they start investigating the goings on in Hell’s Kitchen, Joe’s is gone.”

She frowned but then nodded. “Understood.” She held out a hand for a handshake. After a moment he reached out and accepted it.

“Nice doing business with you, your creepiness.”

“I’ll see you around, Darcy.” He said as he turned to walk back into the inky darkness of the alley.

“Right, you have to go fight crime and whatever.” She nodded. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” She sang out as she turned to walk past him, back towards the sidewalk.

“Darcy.” He said as she was just a few steps away. She turned to look back at him.

“Yeah?”

“Be careful out there. There are weirdos running around.”

She laughed. “I know, I’m talking to one.”

She walked away without a second look.

 


End file.
